Question | Answer |
Asthma | Wheezing cough
Dry or productive mucoid sputum with plugs |
Bronchitis | Chronic inflamm with cough and sputum production
Wheezing or rhonchi breath sounds
Productive mucoid or purulent sputum with infection
May have fever |
Cystic Fibrosis | May be obstructive, restrictive, or mixed
Rales, wheezing, and/or decreased breath sounds
Inability to gain weight
Productive of large amounts of mucoid, mucopurulent, or purulent sputum.
May have hemotysis, cyanosis, clubbing |
Emphysema | Permanent abnormal enlargement and destruction of air spaces.
Barreled chest
Use of accessory ventilation muscles
Decreased breath sounds with or without wheezing
Dyspnea |
Pneumothorax | Decreased or absent breath sounds
Dry cough
May have local or referred pain
Tracheal deviation away from affected side
Hyperresonant and tympanic percussion sound. |
Tuberculosis (TB) | Slight nonproductive cough
Hemoptysis
Low grade fever
Chest wall pain
Possible chest x-ray changes |
Pulmonary Edema | Can be due to LV failure, aortic valvular disease, mitral valvular disease, narcotic overdose.
Dyspnea on exertion or paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea
Fatigue
Pink frothy sputum
Positive chest x-ray
Crackles |
Pulmonary Emboli | Without infarction = tachypnea, anxiety, restlessness, rales (crackles), wheezing, decreased breath sounds
With infaction = chest pain, hemoptysis, pleural friction rub, fever, positive chest x-ray |
Pleural Effusion | Exessive fluid netween visceral and parietal pleura
Decreased breath sounds over effusion
Bronchial breath sounds around perimeter
Mediastinal shift away from large effusion
Breathlessness, with large effusions
Chest x-ray shows fluid |
Atelectasis | Collapsed or airless alveolar unit
Decreased breath sounds
Dyspnea
Tachycardia
Increased temperature
Chest x-ray shows platelike streaks |
Angina Pectoris | Pain in chest, jaw, or L shoulder
Other symptoms = indigestion, dyspnea, dizziness, syncope, and anxiety. |
Cor Pulmonale | Failure or hypertrophy of RV resulting from disorders of lungs, pulmonary vessels, or chest wall.
Usually chronic, but may be acute and reversible. |
Left Heart Failure | Forward; reduced CO
Undue tachycardia, cold intolerance, fatigue, orthopnea, paroxysmal noctural dyspnea, cough, bronchospasm.
Increased pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary edema with dyspnea on exertion, cough,
S3 (gallop) heart sound heard |
Right Heart Failure | Backward; reduced venous return
Venous hypertension and stasis, weight gain, fatigue, fullness in abdomen, increased pulmonary artery pressures with peripheral edema (weight gain, venous stasis, pitting edema), anorexia
Pleural effusion (R>L) |
Respiratory Alkalosis | pH incr, PaCO2 decr, HCO3 WNL
Cause: alveolar hyperventilation
Signs: dizziness, syncope, tingling, numbness, early tetany |
Respiratory Acidosis | pH decr, PaCO2 incr, HCO3 WNL
Cause: alveolar hypoventilation
Signs: Early = anxiety, restlessness, dyspnea, headache. Late = confusion, coma, somnolence. |
Metabolic Alkalosis | pH incr, HCO3 incr, PaCO2 WNL
Causes: bicarbonate ingestion, vomiting, diuretics, adrenal disease
Signs: vague symptoms weakness, mental dullness, possibly early tetany |
Metabolic Acidosis | pH decr, HCO3 decr, PaCO2 WNL
Causes: diabetic, lactic, or uremic acidosis, prolonged diarrhea
Signs: secondary hyperventilation, nausea, lethargy, coma |